a week in New Zealand and now I'm home!

It feels good to be home after all my traveling. I left Australia on the 14th of June. It was so sad to leave but from there we went to New Zealand for a week to learn about the indigenous Maori culture and I was pretty excited for that. The culture and feel of New Zealand is very different from Australia and it helped with the transition back home to the states.

above: looking out over Davenport and the city of Auckland

below: a view of the countryside through the bus window

New Zealand is GORGEOUS!!! The countryside and beaches make you feel like you are in the middle of a movie set! Maori culture is also extremely interesting. We learned a lot about it in the short time we had on the island. All our time was spent on the north island, starting and ending in Auckland- NZ's biggest city. Auckland was kinda cool and I got to go bungee jumping off their harbour bridge, but I much preferred the country.

Our trip included staying one night with an actual Maori community, experiencing a traditional hangi meal, having a couple lectures, going to a Maori cultural show, visiting museums, touring villages, going to see geothermal geysers, hiking around ancient volcanoes that are now grassy mountains... you get the picture.

Well that was last week, and now this week I'm home and enjoying the warmth of summer once again! (It was getting really cold by the time I left Australia and New Zealand was absolutely freezing most of the week!). Culture shock hasn't been too bad (although I did have some issues walking along the wrong side of the sidewalk) and jet-lag is just starting to set in.

While I was in Australia I tried not to spend too much time at my computer so I really didn't do a very complete job of explaining all I did and learned. Now that I have more time, I plan on filling in a bit of the details and sharing more pictures and stories. So stay tuned- this isn't the last post!

It's my last day in Australia. The past week has been one of the best! Last weekend I went up to one of my friend's houses in Woy Woy (on the central coast). We went exploring caves by the ocean, whale watching, beach walking, and fishing in the ocean. It was so relaxing I didn't want to come back to Sydney.

I love Sydney too, though! This week was a tourist week for me. On Tuesday I climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge! It was so crazy! We got all harnessed in and suited up and climbed all the way to the top. We did the climb at night and the city lights were so beautiful from the top up there and the wind was soo cold! 

Last saturday I went surfing. Surfing at Manly Beach has become one of my favorite things! I love taking the ferry over there and feeling the breeze coming off the ocean and seeing the opera house across the water. It's all so beautiful! Surfing out in the ocean with the sun shining down on you and the waves crashing is so amazing!

I've been spending as much time as possible with my Australian friends. I have made some really great friends and I am going to miss them heaps! YesderWe had a goodbye party last night and it was so sad saying goodbye and realizing that I may never see them again. 

Well... I leave for New Zealand in the morning. My luggage got picked up this morning. I'm really excited about that! But in the meantime... I'm going to enjoy my last day down under!
I can't wait to see you all again! I'll post more pictures and things on here when I get home.

Accomplishments.

It's been a long time since I've updated. Too long to be able to even tell you the stories of all that I've done so I'll just list the highlights of things I've accomplished in the last month:

1. Went to the outback (the Back O'Bourke)

2. Been in the Opera House (for the Aboriginal Film Festival)

3. Fished for yabbies and ate them

4. Seen heaps of kangaroos

5. Eaten kangaroo (not in the outback... I ate a big kangaroo burger today after surfing at Manly Beach, it was good!)

6. Learned to surf

7. Been to an AFL game at Sydney Olympic Park (Australian Football League is way better than American football and the Sydney Swans won!!! It was a good game)

8. Waded through the famous Hyde Park fountain

9. Swam in mud

10. Trained with host brother's soccer team

11. Had a Tim Tam slam

12. Ran in a race (it was my very first race and I ran 8k in 37:52 and placed 5th)

13. Went to the Blue Mountains

14. Explored more of the Botanical Gardens

15. Milked a cow

16. Learned how to play rugby from aboriginal kids (I think they made up the rules as they went)

I'm sure I've left off important things but oh well. I've been doing too many things and exploring so many different places. There's a month before I head back towards the states and still so much I want to see and do. It'll get done.

Adventures Down Under

I said that I would tell you more about my trip so here goes my attempt. I could just tell you that I saw a lot of really cool things and had a great time and that would be the truth. However, my two week Easter break trip involved a whole lot more than seeing things and having a good time. The greatest part of the trip wasn’t all the stunning natural beauty (although that was cool to see) and it wasn’t the coolness of exploring a place some people only dream of seeing, it was learning about the culture and experiencing the blessings of friendship and hospitality. There are some things that pictures just can’t capture and the problem is that this sort of thing is really hard to explain. Like I said, I’ll do my best.

Ok, here is a story that will hopefully help you understand what I mean about hospitality. (Mom, I debated about telling you this part of our trip now or waiting until I got home because I don’t want you to worry, but it turned out really good so make sure you read the story all the way to the end). 

It was a dark and stormy night half way through our trip (it wasn’t actually stormy, but it was dark). Heather, Sarah, Ben, Jenna and I were standing at a bus stop waiting for a bus so we could go exploring around the surfer town of Noosa. There were these four drunk/drugged-up teenage boys across the street acting like typical drunk Australian teenage punks. Well, they decide to come over to our side of the street and ask about bus times… or so we thought. What ended up happening is one dude started beating up Ben while the other guys circled around us girls. Ben got a bit beat up but he somehow managed to protect his camera and dodge punches all at the same time! We got away pretty quick and ran to a nearby grocery store where we borrowed a phone and called the cops. It was fortunate that the store was open because most shops in Australia close at 5pm. The cops came after a while and told us we should probably find a different area to camp. Being a holiday weekend there weren’t any vacancies left anywhere. So there we are, five scared college kids with a bunch of luggage, a couple tents, and nowhere to go. 

God has a way a providing. Ian, one of the two cops that came to rescue us, decided that we should all go spend the night at his house. They called a taxi and off we went to Ian’s house to meet his family and settle down for the night. We ended up staying there the whole weekend and it was a blast! Tracy-Lee made up beds for each of us, let us all take showers and told us to make ourselves at home. Ian made us some super amazing pasta, the kids shared their Easter candy with us, they let us use their computer and eat their food, they let their kids go hiking in the national park with us and show us around town, they drove us to church for Easter (even though they didn’t go themselves), showed us family pictures, watched movies with us, taught us Australian phrases… they were the most hospitable family I have ever met in my life! It was so good spending Easter with a family. Easter is my favorite holiday and I was missing my family a lot. I don’t think I will soon forget this Easter. We now call Ian, Tracy-lee, Cheyenne, and Shiloh our “Australian family”. Ian sent us an email the other day saying he wished we could’ve stayed with them longer so they could’ve taken us surfing and had an Australian barbeque with “prawns on the barbie" for us.

That is only one of our encounters with Australian hospitality. The people here are so open and friendly (except maybe the teenage surf punks which we stayed far away from the rest of our trip)! All five of us were amazed how God provided for us and blessed us throughout the trip and we all have a newfound appreciation for backpackers and a new view on hospitality. It was an amazing adventure and I think that pretty well sums up my trip for you. 

The picture below is our Easter family minus Shiloh... we wore him out hiking so he was still sleeping. The top picture is the five of us at Cape Tribulation (left to right: me, Sarah, Heather, Ben, and Jenna) and the beach picture is a view of the Noosa coast.

out in the wild!

Here are a couple pictures from my two week break trip. It was so much fun and I saw so many amazing things! I will write more about it later but I just thought I'd get a few pictures up.

(our campsite in Port Douglas- the ocean is just beyond the palm trees)

(the "blue hole" in the middle of the Daintree Rainforest)

(some huge rocks in the ocean)

(the view from our tent one morning)

(momma and baby koala in the wild on magnetic island)

another typical week...

This week has been full of homework, hanging out with friends, exploring, riding ferries and busses and trains and stuff like that. It's been good. On Saturday I went to the Glebe Markets. Glebe is a part of Sydney that is very alternative and hippy-ish. That was fun! After shopping around there I went to Manly beach and explored the nearby cliffs with Ty. I love exploring! The scenery was AMAZING and it felt like I was in the middle of the movie set for the Chronicles of Narnia.

Monday morning I had to give a group presentation on the Australian stimulus package. It was really interesting to learn about. The most recent package was $42bn aimed at getting the Australian economy from going down-hill so quickly. Much of what happens over in the States effects life over here- especially in the area of the economy. Being in another country I'm realizing how much the world really is effected by globalization.

Speaking of global... for lunch today I went to a Thai restaurant that's about a minutes walk from school with my Australian friend Emma, my French friend Florence, and two of my American friends Becca and Jess. There are tons of Thai restaurants all over Sydney! Australia doesn't really have a national food, they just have a mixture of ethnic foods. My favorite foods at the moment are sushi, Greek salad, gelato, and dried Iranian figs. 

I'm leaving for my two week break trip this Friday so I might not be able to post for a while. After I come back, though, I'll be sure to post all the pictures I took of the Australian rainforests, the great barrier reef, and the northern beaches.

one of those weeks

This week has been kinda rough. Today was a long day. I left my house at 7:30 this morning and just got back home again at 11pm. It was very hard not to fall asleep during my Romans class this afternoon. It's such a good class but it's 3 hours long and whenever I sit in one spot for too long my eyes start drooping.

While I was in Canberra last weekend I found out that my grandpa died. It's been difficult not being able to be at home for my family. On top of that, today my roommate it sick, yesterday my host mom was sick, and one of my host brother's friends is dying of cancer. I'm realizing that life is one of those things you can't control. You take it as it comes and enjoy each moment for what it is.

We talked about the concept of Kairos in one of my classes. It basically means "a unique moment in time" and it's more formal definition is, "The hour [which] is the God-given moment of destiny not to be shrunk from but seized with decisiveness, the floodtide of opportunity and demand in which the unseen waters of the future surge down to the present." Life is meant to be lived to the fullest. One of my favorite quotes is by Fanny Crosby, "Live in the moment and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering!"

Anyway... this week has also had plenty of good moments too! Last night Heather and I went to our friend Ish's house to make dinner. Ish is from Zimbabwe and goes to our uni. I love how there are so many people from so many places. There's a guy in my Romans class who's Irish and he has the coolest Aussie/Irish accent ever! He shared his Moroccan pizza with me tonight. 

God has blessed me with some super great American friends here too. I am with the 26 other American exchange students so much between being in class with them, traveling, working on assignments and presentations together, and that sort of thing. There is a group of five of us that have become pretty close. Tonight we had a Bible study together and it was so good after a long day. For our "fall" break the five of us are going to spend 16 days exploring the eastern coast of Queensland together. We'll be hiking through rainforests, camping, exploring some islands, snorkeling on the reef, stopping at towns along the coast, going to different beaches, and who knows what else! We fly up to Cairns April 3rd and I can't wait!

Sorry this got kinda long. I was typing while I was waiting for my pictures to upload and they are taking a long time so I just keep typing. I'll stop now and add more pictures later because I need to sleep.

Canberra Trip

This past weekend I went to Canberra, Australia's national capital, with my American class. The  picture above is most all of the girls in our group in front of the "mall". Back when they were planning the capital city (not too long ago) the two largest cities, Sydney and Melborne, both wanted to be the capital. As a compromise, the capital got built from scratch right between the two cities in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

A lot of people, both Australians and tourist, think that Canberra is very boring but I really enjoyed it. We got to go to Parliament house and watch the senate, we went to the British and Indonesian embassies to meet with their ambassadors, we went to the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum, and the National Art Gallery, and the War Memorial. I guess if you didn't like art, history, and politics Canberra probably would be boring. The Embassies are neat because they are in a neighborhood and each embassy is designed and decorated like it's straight from the country it's representing. 

One of my favorite things to visit was the Aborigine Tent Embassy set up outside of the Old Parliament House. It's basically a permanent protest the Aborigines have had going on for about 15 years. They have been treated so terribly! It wasn't until 1967 that aborigines were considered citizens. Before that they were classified under flora and fauna. Right now the aborigines are fighting for more land rights. 

the war memorial

Aussie lingo

I haven't done such a good job picking up the Aussie accent so far. It sounds very silly when Americans try to talk like they're Australian. I have learned some new words and phrases though:

how ya goin?......how are you?

no worries..........you're welcome

servo...................gas station

fair dinkum........real, true, genuine

bodgy..................low quality, sketchy

ice block.............popsicle

lollies..................candie

Maccas...............McDonald's

good onya..........good for you

jumper...............hoodie

muso........music major

mobile................cell phone

biscuit................cookie

uni..........college, university

and that's the start to my Aussie vocabulary!

random pictures

Manly Beach!

George Street at night (my favorite street in Sydney)

beware of the bluebottle!!!

(above) Bondi Beach

(below) Me and my dugong friend at the Sydney aquarium

a bit of what i've been learning

Headed home from school today I felt very smart. It was a bit awkward getting on and off the busses with my arms full of heavy theology books on Romans and righteousness. I got a lot of funny looks. I am learning a lot here already (like how to do homework effectively on public transportation for example) and I really love the classes I’m taking! The way most of them work is that they meet only once a week, there aren’t any tests, and the grade is based on a few essays on topics of your choice. The teachers are so laid back and they all have sweet Aussie accents. It’s great!

Today I only had one class: The View from Australia, which is specifically for the group of American students in my program. We had a panel of Australians come talk to us about Australian culture and what makes it unique. It’s really interesting. One huge difference between American and Australian culture is that Americans tend to be very confident and optimistic. We have an attitude of thinking that we can accomplish anything while Aussies are much more critical and insecure. Australia has been rather looked down upon over history and is often neglected so it makes sense that they think of themselves as unimportant. I mean seriously… how much do most people really know about Australia? I try to remember their prime minister’s name but I keep forgetting it. I feel bad because Australians know SO much about American politics they could teach me. Everywhere I go people get so excited to be able to talk to an American about our government and Obama and all that.

So yeah, this week I have mostly been a nerd except for a couple trips to the beach and a few movie nights. Oh! Last Saturday I had my first encounter with Australian wildlife. I was jumping around bodysurfing in the waves at Manly Beach and this blue stringy thing started wrapping around my stomach. I brushed it off but it started stinging and that’s when I realized that I was getting viciously attacked by jellyfish. I started hopping around and making pained faces and ran as fast as I could back to shore. The stings swelled up a bit and stung for a few hours but the lifeguards gave me a ready-made ice pack and that helped. Bluebottle jellyfish stings hurt! Unfortunately I don’t even have any scars to prove I was stung. It was painful but it’s not going to stop me from swimming! I made a friend this week that is going to teach me to surf! I can’t wait!!!

week 2

I've already been here two full weeks! It's hard to believe it's been that long. I've been busy doing homework, getting trained for my service placement, going to the beach, going to different church services, and figuring out how to read bus schedules. I've had some interesting conversations with people on the bus though. Australians are super friendly.
Every morning I have to wake up early to catch bus 492. The public transportation around is really good but it can get annoying having to wait around for busses and trains and ferries all the time. 

The picture to the left is the bus stop in Burwood near where I live. The picture below is the street I live on. It's a really pretty neighborhood. I love going on runs past all the plumeria trees, hibiscus, picket fences, exotic birds, palm trees, and cactus.

This is my host brother Anthony. He's cool.

And these are aborigines in the city performing and making lots of money. I love all the sounds in the City. There are always live performers, tons of people speaking languages from all over, lots of busses, trains, and boats, and random city noises. 

school's in session!

I made it through the first week of school! All my classes seem like they are going to be really good! Here's what my week looks like:

Monday

8:45am-noon "The View from Australia" 

(this past Monday, since I have all afternoon off, a couple friends and I went to the botanical gardens and sat and did homework in the south pacific sunshine. It's almost surreal sitting in the middle of beautiful gardens and being able to look up and have a perfect view of the Sydney Opera House with the Harbor Bridge behind it!)

Tusday

9am-noon "Faith and the Contemporary Artist"

2-5pm "Romans"

Wednesday

9am Piano lesson

10:45-12:35 "Contemporary Christian Music Ensemble"

1-2pm chapel

Thursday

no classes!!! 

(Thursday was a beach day this week! It was so beautiful sitting by the ocean doing homework)

Friday

9am-? "The view from Australia"

Saturday

9am-12:30 service project- Hillsong Street Teams

Today for class we learned about the Rocks. This is the oldest part of Sydney where the Europeans first settled. It is such a pretty place! All afternoon our assignment was to explore the Rocks district and read about all the history. The more I see of Sydney the more I like it. The only problem is that I'm beginning to think it would take a lifetime to see and do everything there is to see and do in Sydney.

the pictures are ones I took of Sydney from the ferry coming back from Manly Beach. Sorry there's not more pictures. The internet is being slow today.

weekend adventures!

Hi! I have been so busy doing fun things before classes start that I feel like I could update this blog a couple times a day and still miss heaps of things!!! Yesterday (Saturday) ended up raining so we didn't go to the beach. Instead Laura and I explored around our suburb a bit. It's a nice little suburb with lots of cute little houses, a busy downtown with cafes and shops, a large park, and a huge shopping mall. The picture on top was in the park. I think we've seen about four different weddings in the past couple days.

I'm getting over the overload of everything being new and different than I expected. My host family is turning out to be very sweet and I'm enjoying getting to know a bit of Greek culture too! They run a Greek Christian outreach TV program and they are very busy people.

Last night I watched the Matrix with Anthony. It was filmed in Sydney so Anthony kept pointing out where the different scenes were filmed and I was like, "hey! I've been there!!!" 

Today Anthony took me and Laura to Hillsong Church in the city. It was amazing!!! It met in Capital Theatre today for a trial. I guess they need more room to expand. After church Laura and I made some new friends our age: a girl named Paivi who's from Finland, Florance from France, Miranda from Mexico, and Ashton and Kieth from the states. The cool thing about Sydney is that it is extremely multi-cultural. It was a beautiful day so we all went and got Australian meat pies. Kieth, whose a chef here in Sydney, took us to the best place to get them. They were pretty good. After that we walked along the harbor, explored the botanical gardens, and ate ice blocks (popsicles). My feet hurt from walking so much and I've got a bit of a sunburn from being out in the sun all day but it's been good.

These are a couple guys that were pointing the way to Hillsong (this picture is for you Leslie ;). I've got more pictures but they are having trouble uploading. I'll put them up soon. 

more from Sydney

It's late again! I have been so incredibly busy seeing the sights and learning the ropes of the school that I haven't hardly had time to sleep. Today was a long day! I've been all over Sydney riding trains, catching busses, and walking tons of miles! It's gonna take a while to figure out how to do this whole public transportation stuff!

Tonight a bunch of us went out on the town and experienced Sydney at night! It's such a beautiful city day or night and the weather was perfect!

The picture below is of my house. The family is Greek and they act Greek, cook Greek, and decorate their house Greek. Just picture "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and you'll get an idea of what I mean. It will take some getting used to.

My host brother, Anthony, is great! He plays soccer and likes to tease me and Laura, my roommate. He's been giving us tips on getting along in Australian culture and has been helping us work on our Australian accents- I think we're getting pretty good! Anthony is really funny and having him around makes living at this house a whole lot more enjoyable.